HOWELL – They came wearing lights, or antlers, or, in the case of Alex Williams, not much in the way of clothing in Friday's Fantasy of Lights 5K in downtown Howell.

Williams, who lives in Caro, ran his third Fantasy of Lights race the same way he did his first two — shirtless.

"It just feels better, man," he said afterward in the warm basement of the First Presbyterian Church. "It feels natural. It feels good, and once you get going, you don't feel the cold."

Emily Allison of Pinckney wore an Albion College sweatshirt and her college shorts.

"It was a little cold," she said of running mostly bare-legged with temperatures in the mid-20s. "But it was good because I was so numb I couldn't feel anything."

The overall winner was former Pinckney High School standout Mike Katsefaras, who finished in 15 minutes, 52 seconds. Sarah Boyle of Brighton, who is the women's cross country coach at Cleary University, was the first woman to finish and took sixth overall.

The race began in snow and a little wind, but that did little to dampen the high spirits of those who ran, walked, jogged or perhaps did a combination of the three.

Aryn Morrison of Howell and her mother, Tami, were among those who ran wearing fake antlers on their heads.

"They're not very aerodynamic," Aryn said. Tami lost hers but managed to keep a blinking red button that had served as an homage to Rudolph before her antlers fell off.

Mother and daughter had a grand time despite a mock mourning of the lost antlers.

"This was fun," Tami Morrison said. "You see lots of people you know, and then there's the parade afterward. It's fun."

"I love it," said Aryn Morrison, a student at Indiana University. "It's a great race, there's all the costumes and it's pretty. It's a fun run. Never been this cold, though."

One runner was dressed as a man who one assumes would know from cold.

Dave Dugger of Howell was dressed as a certain elf getting in a jog before the parade.

Asked if he heard any Christmas requests as he jogged, Dugger nodded.

"A whole bunch of them," he said. "You kind of get recognized in this costume."

Did the Santa outfit, he was asked, give him the power to determine if those asking had been naughty or nice?

"Just about," he said, then broke out a crinkly grin.

Despite cold temperatures and snow falling, there was still a large and festive turnout of Friday’s Fantasy of Lights 5K.(Photo: GILLIS BENEDICT/DAILY PRESS &amp; ARGUS)

Tyler Burkhardt of Fowlerville went with the familiar when it came to his running garb.